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Emfuleni News

Every financial year, Emfuleni continues to count millions lost in the distribution of water and electricity due to theft, illegal connections and vandalism of our ageing infrastructure. These losses come at a time when the municipality is battling non-payment of municipal accounts by residents. Emfuleni strives to deliver basic services in an affordable and sustainable manner in an era plagued by challenges which include revenue losses, underpayment of municipal services accounts and vandalism of municipal infrastructure.

The municipality’s public safety department has been hard at work pursuing thieves who are targeting municipal infrastructure, stealing cables and plunging residential areas and busy roads into darkness. Today, the street lights along the R42, an artillery road linking the retail hub of Bedworthpark in Vanderbijlpark with Vereeniging, Sharpeville and Sasolburg, have been rendered useless by continued criminal activities. Thieves have dug up cables, leaving open trenches next to the road, causing a serious hazard for motorists, who also have to drive in the dark in the evenings.

It stinks; it is unhealthy and costs the municipality millions each year. It is called illegal dumping – the number one enemy of local government. Heaps of waste piling in street corners and open spaces – this has become a regular sight in Emfuleni. The cost of illegal dumping to the environment and the finances of the municipality is massive – and growing by the day.

Illegal dumping is a public service nightmare in which residents and businesses have plunged our municipality into a state of filth, prompting the Executive Mayor, Councillor Jacob Khawe to launch a municipality-wide cleaning campaign.